Stockholm!!

This is a very exciting city with a lot of people, that has been surprisingly easy to navigate. I've had few "lost" moments and many enjoyable walks. Between today and yesterday, I've seen most of the city to the north of "Gamla Stan" aka Old Town and then Gamla Stan itself. I'm staying in a place called "City Backpackers" and it's a hostel that is very clean and nice in the centre of town. There are 3 more people rooming in the same bedroom from Russia, China and Australia. The prices for things are nearly the same as Canadian prices with the exception of food which is very expensive. Dinner is almost always twice the price of lunch, but they are the same size.

I've been using my Frommer's guide book so far and the maps are helpful but I've found it lies a little. It's supposed to help me plan a cheap trip but it lists some very expensive places, especially to shop, when there are plenty of cheaper alternatives if you look. Ah, well. The best thing I learned so far is to explore first, find things on maps later. I've been here the same length of time as some of the folks I'm staying with and they are sitting beside me trying to find streets I've been over a few times, some that are fairly far from the hostel. I used my map today, to get to Gamla Stan but after that I just sort of roamed. There are wide, pedestrian streets that are cobbled and allow you to walk anywhere, where there is lots of shopping. Gamla Stan was almost entirely pedestrian and had the narrowest streets where there were lots of tourist shops. I only spent a little time there, maybe 4 hours but it was enough to see the Royal Palace, the changing of the guards, shop a little, eat, and walk on all of the streets in Gamla Stan. At the end, I even gave some tourists directions (correct directions at that!).

I left Old Town in time to have some papers scanned which took about 2 hours (nobody in Stockholm knows where to scan something, but 1 random Canadian now does!). In the process I found a nice place that has desserts and coffee that I might go to tomorrow. I leave at 5 pm Swedish time to go to Estonia (12pm Canadian) and arrive there at 10 am on the 22nd (or 5 am Canadian). I think I'll go to the other side of Gamla Stan tomorrow, (you have to pass through it to get to more land on the other side) to get to a place called "Slussen".

I took pictures but I'll wait to upload until I get to Estonia!